1. Field of the Invention
Exemplary embodiments of the present invention relate to liquid crystal display devices and methods of manufacturing the same.
2. Description of the Background
Generally, a liquid crystal display (LCD) panel may include an array substrate, an opposite substrate facing the array substrate, and a liquid crystal layer interposed between the array substrate and the opposite substrate. A plurality of switching elements for driving pixel areas may be formed on the array substrate. The LCD panel may display an image by controlling transmissivity when a voltage is applied to the liquid crystal layer interposed between two substrates.
In a patterned vertical alignment (PVA) mode of an LCD device, liquid crystal molecules may be arranged in different directions by using a patterned transmissive electrode to form a liquid crystal domain, so that a viewing angle of the LCD device may be enhanced. To manufacture the PVA-mode LCD device, a process of forming the patterned transmissive electrode may be required. Moreover, in another type of the PVA mode, a protrusion may be formed on the opposite substrate and a common electrode layer may be formed on the opposite substrate on which the protrusion is formed, so that a liquid crystal domain providing an enhanced viewing angle of the LCD device may be formed. However, a separate process for forming the protrusion may be required.
As described above, in order to form a liquid crystal domain in a PVA-mode LCD device, a process of patterning a transmissive electrode and/or a process of forming a protrusion may be performed, thereby leading to a greater number of steps in the manufacturing process of an LCD device. Furthermore, patterning of the transmissive electrode and forming of the protrusion may reduce the aperture ratio of the LCD device. Moreover, in an assembly process of a display substrate and the opposite substrate, misalignment of the display substrate and the opposite substrate may generate misalignment of patterns of the display substrate's pixel electrode and the opposite substrate's common electrode, so that a liquid crystal domain is not appropriately formed.